Well, well, well, guess what came in the mail today!  And I just finished the Rush tour book so my reading plate is clear.  I read three or four random sentences to my wife immediately after opening the package snd that turned her into an immediate fan.   (It was the bit about the Tim River doing a good cop, bad cop routine, the good cop going out for coffee and never coming back....)

Congrats, Drew!  Happy for you, and I have no doubt it will be a triumph!!

Ordered!  I'll read it right after I finish reading my Rush tour book....

It looks like there are advisories for a number of access points in addition to Mag.  Still no all clear...I'm packing and provisioning, hoping each day to see word that we're good to go.

We're still in "waiting for the all clear" mode for backcountry camping in Algonquin to open, right?  I've got a 5/2 reservation for the Rock/Pen area, getting stuff ready to go....but I'm kind of doing it based on hope right now.

Crossing my fingers for May 2nd as well....just made a reservation.  I always seem to be facing narrow windows of opportunity for ice out trips, when it is 10% hoping, 10% guessing, 10% predicting, and 70% trying to wedge a trip within my family's schedule between ice-out and bug-in.

For me, the COVID camping experience was the inability to cross the border to take a canoe trip in Algonquin, and taking a trip or two in the Adirondacks instead.  When I was able to return to Algonquin, I remember having a mask in my shirt pocket and a vaccination card in my wallet, but Algonquin was the most normal, mask free area available.

With respect to changes since then.....I don't know that I can point to anything specifically, but that period of time certainly changed the definition of "remote".  Prior to COVID, remote was going to Algonquin Park, where the technology and connectivity could be put away for a few days.  "Work from home" became "Working remote", I suppose because it sounds softer, but is not exactly a wilderness of its own.  In the workplace, even when people are in an office setting together, the meeting location of choice is now online, in part because it is so much easier to "share a screen".  The ability to have those kinds of meetings existed prior to COVID, but became the standard during that time, and have replaced business travel in many instances. 

Reminding that online meetings existed prior to COVID, online reservations for Algonquin existed before COVID.  The technology around online meeting spaces has expanded, and so has the technology around park reservations.  That would have happened anyway, but COVID sped it up. For example, campers don't need to check in at a permit office anymore.  You can do that on the drive to the park.  Those reservations have become automated to the point where permit offices are being closed.  In a way, I miss it.  I enjoyed that brief interaction with park personnel on the way in, asking a couple of questions, getting the latest weather report, but in a way, I don't miss it. There's something clean about pulling up to a lake, loading up a canoe, and pushing off.  That part feels like the way it should be.

I'm sure other people will have comments about the number of people visiting t

The PT I've been doing....for a flat-footed guy, I don't think my lower legs have ever been stronger.  Some things are exercises, some are stretches, but maintaining walking stability, and flexibility as well, for uneven terrain is tremendously important as we age.  Every year I tell myself I'm going to knock weight out of my pack....every year I don't....but I think that will become vital going forward.  

This was taken from a portage late in the day.

OK, well, nobody seems to want to take the empty-netter, so respect for that.  I'll take Club lake for the accidental backed into it win.  And I'll post something over the next few days.